So your hair is black, eh? The darkest of the dark. And you're stuck with it, forever. Or are you? If you want to go blonde, very blonde, it's going to take time and money. The best way to do it is to save up your money and go to a salon, but there is a chance that you are one of the reckless few that think they can handle strong chemicals with as much ease as a trained professional. If you are, you need guidance in becoming a blonde . Let's begin!

Steps

1

Make sure your hair is in excellent condition. Removing all that black pigment from your hair is going to be a potentially damaging process, so if your hair is "over-processed"; i.e, frizzy and dry with breakage from over-coloring, straightening, or blow-drying, you need a deep conditioning treatment. Turn any conditioner into a deep conditioner by following these instructions:

Wet your hair and shampoo, rinse and towel dry.

Apply enough conditioner to your hair to completely saturate it. You can add a teaspoon full of olive oil if your hair is particularly dry or prone to flyaway.

Then wrap your hair in saran wrap or cling wrap, covering all your head. You can use a shower cap if you have one.

Wrap your plastic-covered head in a towel and let the conditioner sit on for 10 to 15 minutes. The heat from your scalp will open up the hair shaft and allow the conditioner to deeply penetrate into the follicles.

After the time is up, rinse your hair with cold water.

You may want to take a week or two and do several deep conditioning treatments.

If your hair is still too damaged, you shouldn't proceed.

2

Allow enough time. This process can take several hours. It's not something that can be rushed. It can take 4-8 hours in a salon under the best circumstances.

Don't do this at night if there's a chance you will fall asleep, get distracted or not monitor the process with 100% of your attention.

Set a kitchen timer to sound when you should check your hair.

Plan your bleaching session on a day when you don't have plans. Try to do it when the beauty supply store is still open. You may need to make a rush trip back to purchase additional supplies.

Don't do this before an important event. You may need to make an emergency appointment with a local salon to cut breaking ends or fix problems with your color (purple hair, orange hair, etc.) Many things can go wrong. Allow a few days to get to a salon or to retreat your hair. Doing this for a special event tomorrow may not allow you enough time to undo any problems.

3

Go shopping. The best and pretty much only way to get that black off your hair is to use bleach. Go to your local beauty supply store and get two packets of powder bleach and at least a two ounce container of 40 vol. developer. Make sure you buy enough to get the job done. Buy more if you have longer hair. You will also need: a plastic or glass, definitely non-metal, color mixing bowl, a color brush, a processing cap and gloves. You can find these all at a beauty supply store.

Choose your color carefully. You will need to recolor your hair with a blonde shade, after you have removed the color from it with the bleach. You won't want to leave your hair bright yellow, which is probably where you'll end up if you start out with black. This is when the laws of color apply. Do you want to be icy platinum? Then you need to cancel out those yellow tones by using a violet based shade of blonde in the 10 to 12 level area, and perhaps add a violet intensifier. If you are looking for a more neutral shade of blonde, choose a color that says "N" or Natural. You probably shouldn't go for an ash, because that means the base color in the formula is green. Either way, violet cancels out yellow on the color scale, and blue cancels out coppery orange. Any color with a violet/blue base will take out the yellow and give you that bright blonde you are looking for.

4

Get some clips and a comb and part you hair into 4 sections if it is long. You can leave it unparted if short.

5

Check your re-growth. If a few inches of your natural color is showing through, you will need to leave those unbleached until the black hair has begun to process. If all your hair is black, naturally or through coloring, you can bleach it all at one time. Remember however, to leave the hair closest to the scalp unbleached until you are done with the mid-shaft and ends of the hair, because the heat from your scalp will cause it to process faster.

6

Mix your developer and bleach in a one to one ratio. Stir until lumps are dissolved and a creamy consistency is achieved. Make sure you are wearing your gloves during the bleaching process.

7

Apply bleach to hair, going section by section, in small sections, all over your head, leaving your roots untouched. Make sure to thoroughly saturate and don't let any section get dry. If your hair is dry, it is no longer processing. Most bleach mixes appear violet or blue. Rest assured this is not the color your hair is going to be.

8

Apply bleach to your exposed roots last. Once bleach is applied to all mid-strand and end pieces, go back through and apply to root area.

9

Put on your processing cap. Make sure to keep a constant watch. Check your hair after 10 minutes, then every 5 to see how it goes. Black hair goes through stages of red, brown and yellow in succession before turning blonde. If your hair is red, just be patient, make sure the bleach isn't dry, and wait. To check each section for its true color, you must take a towel and rub off a bit of the bleach. If it isn't as light as you want it, reapply the bleach to the wiped section and wait.

10

Rinse out the bleach. You don't want bleach on your hair for more than 30 minutes, really. It's a very strong chemical and it may take you more than one application to get it to platinum, if that's how blonde you want to be. When you have reached a point where all areas on your head are a consistent shade of buttery yellow, you probably need to rinse it all out. Make sure to rinse very well!

11

Apply a quality deep conditioner. Depending on how fragile your hair is, now might be the time to recondition your hair, before putting any toners on it to change the shade of blonde from yellow to neutral or ash. If that is the case, repeat the instructions for deep conditioning the hair. Apply conditioner and cover with saran wrap/shower cap, followed by towel. Leave on for 10 minutes. Rinse. Don't use conditioners that contain tint, such as those made for brunettes.

12

Apply your blonde all over your head. Once it is on, you will probably not need to let it sit for very long, as your hair is already very porous from the bleaching. 10 minutes is usually sufficient. 15 at the max, if you feel like the color isn't lifting enough, for those of you using 40. Once again, heat from your scalp will be magnified, speeding up the coloring process, if you wear a processing cap/shower cap, or cover your head in saran wrap.

13

Rinse thoroughly until the water runs clear and your scalp feels clean. Then condition, condition, condition. Heck, you could probably use another deep conditioning, but a leave in conditioner in addition to a silkening treatment will suffice if you cannot stand to rinse your hair any more for one day.

14

Give your hair a rest for a while. That's enough chemical processing to satisfy anyone for one round. Remember these things when caring for your newly blonde locks in the future:

Blonde hair is more sensitive to sun and heat damage. Always spray on a thermal protectant before you blow dry, and again before you flat iron. There are some hair serums and sprays you can apply to dry hair that contain UV protection, so use them!

To maintain the health of your hair through chemical processes such as this one, use a deep conditioner at least once a week and a leave in conditioner or silkening treatment; Moroccan oil, Biosilk's Silk Therapy, or Chi's Silk Infusion, after showering. Do a deep conditioning with a quality deep conditioner in addition to the daily conditioner you use following shampoo. Deep conditioners are often found in tubs (not bottles).

Don't go in the pool for a few weeks. The chlorine can mess up your color.

Be good to your hair and it will be good to you! If you feel like you need more color, consider adding highlights through clip-in or glue in extensions, for a temporary change, or a demi-permanent color or glaze, for less damaging colors that eventually fade, leaving you freedom to play.

Community Q&A

No! While all bleach is damaging, household bleach is not meant for hair and will be far more damaging. It's meant for getting rid of stains/cleaning and so is far harsher. Buy the kind that's meant for use on hair and follow with some kind of hair treatment (conditioner, etc).

Yes, it's safe, but it's best to wait a few days after you've dyed your hair before bleaching it. Similarly, after bleaching your hair, it's best to wait a few days before dying it again. Let your hair take some time to recover.

After using bleach and coloring it for the first time to get to desired tint of blonde, wait 6 - 9 months. This allows your hair regain strength and durability after going through a dramatic change. After this, anywhere between 3 - 6 months for any other color application, which is standard.

When your roots are growing in, it's time to redye. You can just dye the roots if you're happy with the color of the rest of your hair, or redye all of it with the knowledge that your roots will appear a darker blond than the rest. A professional hairdresser can probably give you a more even tone.

If this question (or a similar one) is answered twice in this section, please click here to let us know.

Tips

Put an old towel on the floor to stand on and catch drips. Make sure it is a towel that can be stained or damaged. Use more towels if you have rugs. It's better to have more than you need at arms reach before you start.

Ask a friend to help you apply product to the back of your head. Missing a spot will be very obvious.

Go to a professional if you aren't confident or if your hair has previous damage. If a salon is too expensive, try a local beauty college. Remember, a disastrous bleaching can end up costing you more.

If you get the urge to go back dark after being a blonde again, seriously consider going to a salon and having a professional add a lot of dark LOW lights rather than going all one color and risking having too go through another entire bleach processing all over again when you get bored with the dark.

If you really feel like you're just not blonde enough after the bleaching, you can go down like a rock star and mix your blonde color in a one to one ratio, sometimes one to two ratio depending on the blonde, with 40 volume developer. Caution, 40 volume developer is a whopper, as you've experienced with the bleaching, and is not something to be toyed with if you don't really need that kind of power! If you're only looking to change the tone of your blonde from yellow to something more natural, just go with 10 volume developer, a deposit-only developer. 40 vol. developer is designed to lift your hair 4 levels, for example from a level 6, medium light brown, to a level 10, light blonde. If your hair is already blonde, using 40 will make you very blonde.

This is a process that can't be rushed. Don't try to do it when you are on a tight deadline. Additional trips to the beauty supply store may be required to purchase additional products.

Be prepared to visit a salon shortly after your bleaching. There is a chance the ends will not bleach out entirely. The ends may also become dry to the point of breakage.

Try this during the day, when the beauty supply stores are still open. If you run into a problem or need more product you won't have to wait for them to re-open.

A bad bleaching can cause your hair to break off at the shaft. You may be required to cut off all your hair because of the damage. You may also have to cut off several inches with a successful bleaching. The ends of your hair will see the worst of the chemical process.

Your new hair color may require that you re-think your makeup and clothing colors. What may have worked with black hair may not work for a bright blonde.

If you are a minor, you should discuss this with your parents before attempting.

It is best not to bleach your hair, simply because it is extremely dangerous. You could develop serious health problems from bleach.

Warnings

If your scalp starts to really burn, don't try to tough it out. Rinse it off! Chemical burns can lead to bald spots.

Bleach is a strong chemical. Do not get it anywhere near your eyes, and don't leave it on the skin. Try not to smear it all over the scalp, even though you can't really help getting a little bit on your scalp with an all-over color process like this.

The chemicals can discolor towels and clothing. Wear something that can be damaged.

You may also experience burning and irritation at your hairline along your face, your neck and around your ears. Avoid allowing the chemical to run or drip. Use a thick cream/lotion or some of your deep conditioner and put it on your skin along the hairline, without touching the hair. Apply a thick ring. It will help prevent running and protect that sensitive skin.

Very often, black haired people look strange and unnatural with blonde hair. If you have the time, try coloring your hair a brown color first to see if you look as good with lighter colors.

To get the burning to stop, take a can of 7up and pour it on the scalp, it will help to take some of the sting away.

Things You'll Need

Shower cap or saran wrap

Latex or vinyl gloves

Non-metallic color mixing bowl

Non-metallic color brush

At least 2 packets of powder bleach

At least 2 oz of 40 volume developer

Comb

Enough clips to part your hair if necessary

At least a 2 oz bottle of your choice shade of blonde

At least 2 oz. of 10 vol. developer or up to a strength of 40, depending on desired secondary level of lift.